


Knocked Me Down Like A Tidal Wave

by judgementdays



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, high school au's are the best aren't they?, liam never actually shows up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-23
Updated: 2013-02-23
Packaged: 2017-12-03 07:43:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/695889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/judgementdays/pseuds/judgementdays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though stereotypes drift and and falter, some lasting and some lasting forever, in every school, there will always be two, hopelessly unfortunate souls who break the rules and guidelines so strictly set up for them, and this, readers, is the story of two of them.</p><p>or,</p><p> in which Louis is a fashionable nerd and Nick is a hipster. High school sucks for both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knocked Me Down Like A Tidal Wave

**Author's Note:**

> wow what is this even?????? it's about 4k words, high school au with nerd!louis and hipster!nick
> 
> the original prompt: So I was wondering if you could write a tomlinshaw where they're in high school and Nick is the typical bad boy and Louis' the little nerdy but devishly handsome one. And, you know, sexual tension and that stuff? Ahaha, thanks;)
> 
> and i probably totally ruined this. non-edited, but i might edit later.
> 
> dedicated to the anon who sent the prompt and to marky and mary bc i love u both

For as long as time, stereotypes have been in full motion. They're everywhere you look, from when you're a child up until you're old and wrinkly. It's how the world works, and I'm afraid the world might stop spinning without them. Now, of course, stereotypes have been broken and proved wrong, though they always show clearly in high school. They seem to never end. 

 

Though stereotypes drift and and falter, some lasting and some lasting forever, in every school, there will always be two, hopelessly unfortunate souls who break the rules and guidelines so strictly set up for them, and this, readers, is the story of two of them.

+

"Faggot," a voice slurred from in front of him, and instantly Louis ducked his head to protect himself from any slaps or punches coming his way, though only his Chemistry book was thrown to the floor, spilling out papers and extra homework carefully tucked inside.

A sea of laughter echoed after the man had slapped his book from his hand, and he counted this as a blessing. Any days without getting hit were something to be thankful for, Louis had learned.

"Thanks!" Louis called cheerily after him, bending down to pick up the book. He stuffed his papers into the pages again, ignoring the dirty looks he was getting, because honestly, who ever said he couldn't stand up for himself?

"You aren't supposed to stand up for yourself, Lou," a voice warned from behind him, and Louis quickly pushed his glasses more onto his nose, spinning around to face the boy who had spoken.

"You're supposed to just take it and not keep back talking. It's gonna bite you in the arse one day," Harry continued, looking worried and frankly for all the wrong reasons. His hair was a complete mess, along with thick glasses falling off his nose. His clothes were hidden under large jumpers, and his fashion problem over here should be his main problem, not Louis' addiction to back talking.

"I know, I know," Louis sighed instead, because he tried to fix Harry's clothes and look before, and it felt like scolding a puppy, so he reached out and pushed Harry's glasses up onto his nose instead, which earned a small, happy smile from his best friend. 

"Come on, looser, let's get to class."

(Okay, so maybe Louis didn't follow the typical nerd stereotype. He loved learning, loved books and science and everything in between but why did that mean he couldn't defend himself? Just because he was smaller than most males his age, didn't mean a thing.)

On their way over to room A101, something caught his eye. Or, not something, someone really, leaning against the lockers. The figure was wearing a tight leather jacket and even tighter jeans, with a quite ridiculous quiff that kept falling into his forehead. A senior, Louis mused to himself, watching the way he literally smoked a fat cigarette in the middle of the hallway.

"You can't do that," Louis found himself saying, spinning on his heel to face the older male, who was smirking and laughing with collages. The little group of friends went silent, all staring at Louis like he was some foreign alien.

"Smoking," Louis continued, because he wasn't sure the group understood, what with the way they were looking at him.

"It's, it's a fire hazard and can be dangerous to the health and lives of many kids in here. Did you know lung cancer, due to smoking, kills about 2,000 people a day?" Louis kept on talking, and he could feel the eyes of many different cliques and groups turning to stare at him with wide eyes, and his cheeks were starting to burn up. 

"Lou, come on, that's nice, let's go," Harry whispered frantically, reaching for his hand to pull him away but suddenly a larger hand was on his wrist and tugging him back, making Harry squeak and jump away.

"No, it's fine. I want to hear more smoking statistics," the male smirked, and Louis found his head tilting upwards to meet his eyes, and oh, was he gorgeous up close.

"One in every five teenager smokes?" Louis barely got out, cheeks hot and wrist red from where the male was gripping onto it. A few of the male's friends started chuckling, urging him to continue.

"If.... If smoking continues at this rate, then by 2030, smoking will kill one in six people," Louis added, louder this time. That got a few eyebrow raisers and people seemed to be learning things, which, well. Louis loved to teach.

"And every minute, 10 million cigarettes are sold."

"80% of smokers begin to smoke after they turn 18."

"60,000 teens smoke each year."

"Over 90% of people smoke before they're legal, which, well, is you. Congratulations for being in the 90%." 

"Alright! Enough," The boy suddenly snapped after Louis' tiny outburst of spitting facts out. He loved statistics, he couldn't help himself. Harry was staring at him with wide eyes, as were most of the other students in the hallways. 

"You memorized all those?" He asked, eyebrow raised as he slowly let go of Louis' wrist, eyes curious as Louis nodded meekly, swallowing thick as he took about five steps back.

"Ha," the male said, leaning his head back to think, "Nerd."

+

"He was a jerk, Lou. They all are," Harry was saying after school, both of them with a lap full of Louis' sisters, who were thriving in all the high school gossip. (They didn't get a lot of it, since both refused to gossip, but sometimes, they couldn't help themselves.)

"A jerk who was gorgeous," Louis added mindlessly, humming around the straw for his soda, "Did you ever catch his name, by the way?" Louis questioned, pushing his soda onto the coffee table, not bothering to whine when four little hands reached out to get a sip of the drink as well.

"Nick Grimshaw," Harry muttered under his breath, so quiet Louis couldn't really hear.

"Dick Rimshot? How unfortunate," Louis mused, taking a quick moment of silence of pray for the boy. He must of gotten teased all his life. No wonder he started smoking.

"Louis! Not in front of the kids!" Harry cried, covering Phoebe's ears, who was already bouncing up and down giggling, "Dick! Dick! Dick!"

"Anyway, it's Nick Grimshaw. Not Dick Rimshot," Harry continued, rolling his eyes as Louis laughed, delighted.

"Nick Grimshaw. He should work the graveyard shift," Louis hummed to himself, earning five odd looks from four little girls and one boy.

"Like. Grim, grave. It's funny, and you're supposed to laugh," Louis explained with a huff, and even though Louis knew the twins didn't get it, they laughed anyway. Bless them.

"Whatever, Lou, but can you not get involved with him? Don't go flinging statistics at him in the hallway, and no falling in love with the arse," Harry firmly told him, and Louis rolled his eyes.

"Deal," he agreed, because honestly, he gave up on arguing with Harry long ago.

+

The thing is, Louis' sort of a liar. He always does his homework, he tells his mum when he's going to Harry's, he babysits his sisters, but everyone has a flaw, and his is lying. (And back talking. And not being able to stop talking in gen real, but honestly, who only has one flaw? Boring people, that's who.) Lies just slip out of his mouth without him being able to stop them, and he doesn't lie to hurt people, he lies to save feelings. There's a difference.

So, yeah. He lied to Harry about staying away from Nick.

He tried hard to stay away, at first. He avoided him at all costs, which was easy. Nick was two years older and they hardly were in the same building at the same time. But then, he started seeing him after class while walking home. He was behind the building, drinking or smoking. Sometimes he was snogging a bloke and other times he was just staring off into the distance, head phones in.

Louis always watched him from behind a trash can when he was just looking off into his space, because he used the time to study his cheekbones and lips, from the way they curled upwards when a song he loved came on, from the way his brow furrowed in disgust if a song he didn't know came on. He was truly beautiful and once, he had been so caught up in staring at Nick's lips, mouthing the lyrics, he didn't notice the way Nick's eyes flickered up towards him, staring. He went on analyzing Nick's lips, completely in his own world until the boy started to speak.

"Hey! Statistic boy!" He yelled, voice loud and bright and Louis straightened up, jaw twitching as he forced himself not to smile.

"Yes?" Louis answered back sweetly, tone ringing as he stepped forward to be closer to him. He could smell Nick's cologne strongly and he didn't try to hide the wrinkle of his nose.

"What are some facts about drinking?" Nick asked, as causal as if he was asking what the homework was.

Louis blinked, then blinked again, trying to see if he misheard before he opened his mouth and began to speak.

"Citizens of Europe, like ourselves, drink the most alcohol in the world. Over 30% of teenagers drink illegally. Over 72% of kids and teenagers world wide are asked if they want a drink. Sadly, only about 23% of kids say no," Louis recited, eyebrow furrowed as he tried to remember everything that had been on the fact sheet in the 8th grade.

Nick looked surprised but amused, nodding along to everything he was saying. He took a swig from the bottle he was holding, swirled it around in his mouth and then said, "Kiss me."

If Louis had his way, his face would of stayed normal, as if cute boys asked to kiss him every day, but, unfortunately, his face went through a mix of emotions.

Nick looked even more amused by the time Louis was able to collect himself. He took a deep breath, and oh, how he wanted to kiss those lips so bad, and said,

"No thanks." 

And then he walked away.

+

Since their conversation after school, Louis and Nick spent every moment they could together, doing, well, not really normal things.

Normal for Nick would be taking Louis and fucking him against the wall, and normal for Louis would be to run and hide from him, though Nick hadn't tried to do anything to Louis since the day after school, and Louis was far from running. Nick would give Louis a random subject, (shark attacks) and Louis would give him statistics on it, as many as he could. (1 in 11.5 million people die from shark attacks each year.)

It went on like this for a few weeks, bantering and teasing, facts and statistics and Louis had never looked forward to something as much as he looked forward to seeing Nick after school. 

"You're not a typical nerd, are you?" Nick mused one day, their backs to the wall. Nick was smoking, even though Louis had done everything in his power to make him stop. From scolding him to upright just throwing the packs away, Nick always bought a new one, and smoked daily.

Louis snorted, turning to face him more clearly, amusement bright and clear in his face.

"You just figured that out?" He asked curiously, laughter bubbling up into his throat, "And I thought we agreed, no using the word, 'nerd,' and I wouldn't use the word 'hip-,"

"Hipster, I know," Nick cut in, smirking, "But I'm just saying. Besides the fact you spit out more facts than Michelle Duggar spits out babies, you're like. Cute. And not. A dork. I mean, you're a dork, but, not like Liam Payne or something," Nick stumbled out, and for the first time ever, Louis saw a blush rise on his cheeks.

"Nicholas Grimshaw," Louis mock gasped, jabbing a finger into Nick's cheek, just to piss him off, "Is that a blush I see, rising on thee cheek? How sweet," Louis cooed, as Nick grumpily pulled away, looking more and more like an upset child by the second.

"Shut up, you twat. I was just saying-,"

"Wanna know a secret?" Louis whispered, interrupting him as he leaned into his side, breath hot against his neck, "These glasses don't have a prescription in them. I wear them to satisfy the nerd stereotype." 

A silence filled the air before Nick snorted, loud and quite embarrassing if you asked Louis.

"You. You wear glasses around with no prescription? You're such a little shit," Nick laughed, grinning, and then Louis was laughing too, because hey, the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was a little ridiculous.

"Yeah, I know, but Harry was being a little fuck about it and-," Louis was cut off by Nick's lips on his own, and his words trailed off and eventually just became lost into the sea of Nick's lips. It was sweet, gentle, something Louis wouldn't of expected from Nick, but really, they were both full of surprises. His eyes fluttered close and so did Nick's, just their mouths were opening and tongues were entering, exploring. Louis wanted to taste every bit of him, wanted to stroke his cheek and tangle his fingers into that ridiculous curly quiff, but before he could, Nick pulled away. Louis frowned.

"More." He demanded, and Nick laughed, like he was a child pouting for dessert. In this case, Nick was a dessert and Louis did in fact want more of his lips on his own.

"Later," Nick replied, pecking him once more on the lips before he stood up and left, taking his pack of cigarettes, lighter and his pretty self with him.

+

"And then he left," Louis finished, resting his head on Harry's shoulder as he frowned heavily, letting out a breathless little sigh. After Nick had left, Louis had, of course, ran home and told the whole story to Harry. And Harry's mum, who had been reading the paper when Louis started to tell his story.

"He's a mystery," Anne said around he rim of her mug, nodding slowly as she took another sip of her tea.

"I told you not to get involved," Harry whined, ignoring his mum, nudging Louis' head off his shoulder in a pout.

"I tried!" Louis whined back, crossing his arms over his chest as he let out a breathless little sigh, "But he's so cute, Haz, you don't understand. He's gorgeous up close, and he like. Treats me like I'm normal and he kissed me so obviously, he sort of likes me, right?" Louis sat up a little, eyes bright with the sort of hopefulness one shouldn't have when dealing with a boy like Nick Grimshaw.

"Don't get your hopes up, okay?" Harry said after a moment with a long sigh, and Louis nodded, agreeing.

"I won't." He promised.

(Louis lied again.)

+

The next morning, Louis didn't see Nick at all. In fact, he didn't see him all week. It wasn't like he was looking for Nick, per see, he was more, causally searching for a friend. If he could call Nick a friend, that is. 

"He's avoiding me," Louis announced on Friday to Harry, his head aching as his eyes scanned beyond Harry's head, in chance of maybe seeing Nick's in the sea of others.

"He's not avoiding you, Lou. It's a big school. Maybe he got busy," Harry soothed, and by now, he had gotten used to the rants and complaints about Nick coming from his friend. 

"But I always see him," Louis whined, just as Harry's jaw went slack.

"Louis," Harry said, staring above Louis' head.

"And I miss him, kind of, and he said later, and when is later anyway?"

"Louis," Harry repeated, and he was staring at something, but Louis decided to ignore him.

"Maybe he got suspended. You think he got suspended, maybe? I really hope he didn't, that would be so bad, and so close to his graduation, too,-"

"Louis! Jesus, turn around!" Harry put both hands on his shoulders and spun the boy around so he was facing the courtyard, just in time to see Nick dip in for another long kiss with a boy. He was tall, just a bit under Nick's height and looked, well, cool. He probably didn't know random trivia about bee stings, and probably didn't read 400 pages a day. He probably smoked and got drunk just like Nick. They were most likely going to grow up and get married and Louis would be alone forever.

"God, I'm. I'm sorry, Lou," Harry mumbled, pulling him into a tight hug but Louis' arms felt slack. He wanted to run up to Nick and slap him and yell and say something, but he had no right, really. They weren't dating, and one kiss probably meant nothing to Nick. He kissed boys every day, all the time.

"He's a jerk, I told you, Lou," Harry murmured into his hair, then smiled sadly down at him, brushing his fringe from his eyes just as the bell rang. "Let's get to class, yeah?"

And Louis nodded, because, yeah. He couldn't do anything, really, and the only thing he could do was move on. Maybe he could become a normal nerd. He could take the beatings he got and stop back talking, stop wearing his (highly fashionable, thank you very much) Toms and start wearing normal clothing. He let Harry drag him through the day, and though he spent most of it uttering to himself over and over, "it doesn't matter," he still felt numb at the end of the day.

+

Louis spent the weekend reading. He didn't go off and search for Nick, nor did he wait by the phone for him to call (they never got each others numbers, anyway) he simply read, and he read to escape. He traveled with Miles in search for his Great Perhaps and went looking for Margo with Q, and though it seemed cheesy, Louis did end up feeling better, come Sunday night.

That didn't prepare him for seeing Nick pressing a different boy against the wall Monday morning.

"Ew. They probably have morning breath still," Harry wrinkled his nose as they walked by, and Louis nodded, forcing a laugh because, yeah, they probably did, but he'd kiss Nick with morning breath. He'd kiss him through anything, really, though he didn't dare say that to Harry.

"He's gonna get cancer, you know. 1 in every 5, as you say," Harry said causally, stopping at his locker and spinning the combo easily. 

"Yeah," Louis agreed mindlessly, eyes focused on the back of Nick's head, and the boy he was snogging. Was he cute? Did he have the right qualities to kiss Nick? Harry was still talking, but Louis wasn't paying him any mind.

"Louis! Are you listening?" Harry whined, and he looked pretty upset when Louis turned around and Jesus, it never ended. He needed to stop thinking about Nick right now.

Starting..... Now. 

"I'm sorry, Haz. I'll stop. Promise," Louis mumbled, though when his eyes flickered back over to Nick and saw him walking towards them, he stared. When he was close enough to smell his cologne, he ran the other way.

This continued almost all week. Nick would try to talk to him, try to wave or smile and Louis would turn and sprint the other way. Bullies still knocked down his papers, he still spit out facts at random strangers. Things were normal, besides the whole, avoiding Nick Grimshaw thing.

He was doing fine with it all, honestly, besides the times when he ranted to Lottie about it, and he was sure Nick would just give up trying to speak to him when he approached him at lunch.

He and Harry sat in the same place every day, behind the tree outside. No one bothered them and most people didn't even know they were there, which is why it was perfect for them. Harry had the flu, though, so Louis was eating alone, back pressed against the cold bark of the tree and book in his lap. 

"Hey," a voice broke his quiet trance and he looked up to see Nick staring down at him, hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket. He looked memorizing, the sun reflecting off his eyes while the light shade just made his lips look even more kissable. Louis looked away.

"Hi."

"Snake bites," Nick said with a raised eyebrow, arms crossed over his chest.

"Excuse me?" Louis' eyes narrowed, dangerously close to getting up and storming away. Nick doesn't speak for a week then comes over and yells snake bites? Who did he think he was?

"How many people a year die of snake bites," Nick added, looking fairly amused and scared at the same time and oh. Statistics. Right.

"200,00," Louis said slowly, face softening, "But 400,00 get bit every year, just only half die."

"Horribly tragic, wouldn't you agree?" Nick mused, kneeling down beside him, using one hand to gently hold onto his chin.

Louis could only nod, breath hitching and all words on the tip of his tongue seemed to float away.

"I did some research of my own. Two of every people in high school break their typical stereotypes," Nick continued, his face horribly close to his own.

"Really," Louis croaked, voice hoarse as he fought to keep his breathing normal and still. Nick smirked.

"Really. They can break it many ways. They might, say, date the opposite sex. A cheerleader might date a druggy, a skater might fuck a jock. You know, the norm," Nick nodded, as if what he was saying made perfect sense. Louis nodded anyway, urging him to go on. "Then there's people like us. You know, you're a nerd. You like books and statistics. But you're also a very fashionable, cute nerd. Who is sassy and talks back and quite frankly, that's pretty fucking hot." Nick thumbed Louis' cheek gently, their eyes locked, neither daring to look away, in fear they might not be there when they look back.

"And I'm a hipster, but I still listen to the top 40's. I still hang around twinks like you,-"

"Hey!"

"It's a good thing, darling, promise. Anyway, I still hang around you and others and even though I seem amazing and perfect, I can assure you, I am not," Nick's eyes glistened when he finished, his thumb moving over onto his jaw and his lips.

"Nick-," Louis tried, but Nick kept on talking.

"Because one in every Nick makes a mistake," Nick's voice was low, his lips just barely touching Louis' own, and honestly, Louis couldn't handle it any longer.

"Shut the fuck up and kiss me," Louis whispered, and Nick did just that, lips meeting again softly. People were watching, some laughing and some just gawking but Louis could care less. He reached up and tangled his fingers into Nick's stupid, stupid hair and pulled is stupid body closer and closer. 

This kiss lasted much longer than the first one, with more tongue and more gasps as Nick bit down onto Louis' bottom lip, and they were both out of breath when Louis pulled away, resting his forehead against Nick's shoulder. 

Another silence filled the air as they caught their breath, Louis' head rising to meet Nick's eyes staring down into his own.

"I think," Louis started, his voice breaking, "I think that one in every Louis, sort of wants to date you," Louis finished, clenching his fingers around Nick's hair, causing the older boy to break out into another wide, mile long smile.

"Fantastic," Nick breathed, pressing another long kiss onto his lips before he pulled back again, "Bloody fantastic. Because one in every Nick sort of wants to date you as well."

"Great," Louis whispered, smile forming onto his thin lips.

"Great," Nick repeated, and he smiled.

+

And on that late March day, the air warm with a slight mist spraying down on them, Louis Tomlinson and Nick Grimshaw broke their high school stereotypes. Of course, they weren't aware to the fact they had broken those stereotypes long ago, but in that moment, they were the only one the other could see.

And as this story comes to an end, I highly suggest you open your eyes. Your soul mate could be just around the corner, you know.

fin

**Author's Note:**

> again, i'm not sure what this is. my tumblr is judgementdays if you want to request anything or something idk
> 
> ~i don’t know what to tell you  
> other than the fact that a giraffe’s  
> heart weighs 22 pounds and that  
> somebody once told me when  
> flies fall in love, their entire brain  
> is rewired to only know loving each  
> other. when one of them dies, their  
> memory becomes blank. i hope you  
> never think about anything as much   
> as i think about waking up next to  
> you during a windstorm at 5 am~


End file.
